MARTHA AVENUE-Day 37
I think I ate enough for five people today. Sometimes, living in a house with a chef, while making food to serve to dozens of friends and family is a true hazard. But a very delicious one!
Started the day at Restaurant Depot... truly the easiest of my shopping stops. I love Restaurant Depot. Like Costco for restaurants. Everything in huge cans... like as big as my head huge. And by the case. You want peppers? How about 50 of them? You want potatoes? How about 50#s? I love it.
Then I was on to Rainbow. Rainbow is by far my favorite grocery store. For many years I have haunted its aisles and bins and cases... finding so many intriguing options in ordinary things. 35 different kinds of dried beans, 14 different kinds of rice, 20 different kinds of flour. Now, of course, the bins are closed and you have to hope that then have pre-packaged versions of what you are looking for. But they are so nice about it. Several times now, I have been looking for something specific and the shelf listing the item has been empty. I have asked one of the bin section folks about the item, and they have stopped what they were doing to go check on the missing item, packaged it up for me with a smile and send me on my much happier way!
Today when I got to Rainbow, I was third in the "ordinary folks" line. I have talked about the three line system before. The folks at Rainbow do an extraordinary job of keeping the lines moving, people calm and informed and the folks going in and out in an ordered way. Today there was a young woman at the front of my line who had some sort of beef with the woman managing the lines. They had a brief conversation which somehow enraged this young woman who proceeded to harangue the security guard, a store manager and another worker for at least 20 minutes. All somehow focused on how the line-manager woman was messing up and targeting her somehow. It was really ridiculous and made everyone around her uncomfortable and feel terrible for the Rainbow folks who are doing such a mammoth job of keeping things moving and running smoothly. She finally stomped away and when I got to the front of the line I took a moment to thank and commiserate with the Rainbow workers who had had to deal with the fracas. Later, while I was shopping, I saw this young woman again (she was very young and pretty and strikingly dressed, so therefor hard to miss, even for someone not as observant as I tend to be.). I kept trying to tell myself that everyone is dealing with this time in their own way, to try to exercise compassion as much as I could. But man, she was a piece of work.
Costco was next but pretty manageable, then home to finish packing up the couscous prep kits to go with the new Moroccan Chicken Tagine. The Tagine comes with another jar filled with couscous, almonds and golden raisins. When you get the food home, you prep the couscous while the Tagine is heating. Simply pouring boiling water over the couscous and accoutrements, letting them steam a bit and then tossing with a fork and serving with the Tagine. My sister-in-law sent me a note after I dropped theirs off this evening saying, "The Tagine is divine. Super grateful you and Willi added this to the menu." You are so welcome, Sharleen!
Looking forward to a rainy day tomorrow. A raccoon or a tiny downstairs dog tore up a bunch of my little quarantine garden, so tomorrow I will go out there in the rain and see if I can fix it. For tonight, I am going to leave the dishes and fall into bed. Tomorrow, I am going to try to resist all the insane good food around here. And if it's not enough that we have this new Tagine, Willi made Swedish Meatballs with Morels tonight. So much yum.
I hope everyone is finding a peaceful night. Take care of yourselves, be kind and remember to give a little compassion to everyone working through their stuff around you. And give yourself the same sort of compassion. Hug yourself for me. xoxo